5Qs for Yaromir Steiner on the shutdown

Shutting down Easton Town Center in Columbus, Ohio, is like shutting down a small city. The 3 million-sq.-ft. property has three hotels, 50 dining and drinking establishments, hundreds of shops, and a new urban district with a substantial residential community. To find out just how bad a big shutdown can be, we turned to Yaromir Steiner, who helped design Easton and whose Steiner + Associates manages the complex.

What are some of the biggest problems caused by social distancing and shutdowns?
From a logistical and operational standpoint, it’s a formidable challenge. The process of shutting down Easton Town Center safely is enormously complex. Then there’s the money. There’s no telling what the weeks and months ahead will bring, but if you are a developer, you have to assume that many tenants, legitimately or not, are going to default at some point. Working with hundreds of tenants to navigate that process is, as you can imagine, no small undertaking.

How have center owners and retailers reacted financially to survive this unforeseen halt of traffic flow?
Different brands find themselves in very different positions, with varying amounts of cash in the bank and correspondingly variable capacity to weather a sustained shutdown. Part of the calculus for owners and retailers alike is to assess that cash on hand, consider the burn rate, and make decisions accordingly. Ultimately, reality will prevail, and this will be settled through negotiations. Everyone will assume some of the burden based on their true capacity to do so. Those who will try to take advantage or pass in force, whether tenants, landlords or lenders, will not prevail.

The pandemic will ultimately subside, most likely prior to holiday season. Are you entertaining any plans for events that will celebrate the end of social distancing?
This crisis will accelerate the online move of the replenishment or need-based transactions. When Easton Town Center reopens, as a discretionary or want-based retail environment, we’re going to need to push ourselves to perfect the experience for customers. More than ever, the places and spaces that serve as true community centers will be popular, with heightened activation and animation. Place-making, in other words. The most successful will have even more of a neighborhood feel, with restaurants, bars, and entertainment venues giving people more and more reasons to come and stay and socialize.

Will the COVID-19 pandemic forever change the retail habits of Americans?
Need-based retail in particular, like groceries and other essentials, is going to become highly automated—and that’s okay! You can’t beat the efficiency of Amazon, which has twice as much merchandise in a single warehouse than in an entire American mall. However, Amazon can’t satisfy the social needs of people that will be craving interaction. While this crisis has made us all leery of crowds, it’s also made us keenly aware of how valuable those small interactions are to our emotional well-being.

Where do you think we’ll be on Black Friday 2020?
Retailers and owners alike need to be making plans now to account for what will be a make-or-break season for many. Consumers will still be buying. The question is who will be selling, and how? Now is the time to invest in your online sales platforms, easy pick-up services, and other non-traditional options. It is also past time for us to forget about Black Friday as a single unique day in order to operate our business. In the future, retailers will learn to make money by serving the real needs of their customers throughout the year.